Wednesday, 11 February 2015

It was early winters in Varanasi
in November 2006, when Tweesha and Komal were coming back from their tuition
classes. One of Komal’s friend had come in town for a day. He was crazy about
Komal and to have that one look, he crossed miles (usually the way people
behave when in love), though it was one sided. Komal asked her friend to give
company to meet this guy Ravi. Tweesha was naive to all this. Being in 12th
standard, the only thing that she had in her mind were board exams, colleges,
results, parents’ expectations. Love was a distant word for which world is
crazy and not meant for her. Not then at least. Plus, being the youngest,
family had high expectations as she had great inspirations in the family; the
bar raised was pretty high on performance standards.

They went to Archies (a famous gift shop in
town) to meet Ravi.

Ravi is already inside the shop. The girls enter.

Komal-“ Hii Ravi.. how are you?
Been a while, we’ve met.”

Ravi- “Hi Komal. Yeah, tell me
about it..!” ;)

Komal- “Oh! By the way, this is
Tweesha. My best friend”

Tweesha- “Hello Ravi. Nice
meeting you. Have heard loads about you.”

Ravi- “Same here. I hope in the
positive sense!!” :P

After like 2 minutes, Tweesha realizes that she might be becoming kebab mein haddi..!

Tweesha- “Hey guys, Please excuse
me for a while, I’ve to make a few calls. I’ll be back in a while.”

Ravi and Komal together- “No
problem at all. Take your time.”

Tweesha wonders what frequency
man..!! and the three of them have laugh together and then Tweesha leaves.

After 20 minutes. Tweesha enters
the store and finds both of them chit-chatting and buying crazy stuff for each
other. Weird. She thought.

Tweesha knew Ravi is a nice guy
and usually hooked up with his books. He’s an aspiring engineer (Yeah, like the
dream of every parent of making their son an engineer, Ravi too was trying to
make that dream come true.) They exchanged numbers and Tweesha made a very
sincere request to Ravi in case if Ravi needed anything, he shouldn't have
second thoughts in giving her a call (regarding Komal, as she didn't have a
phone then).

Till next month there was no word
or conversation from Ravi. He was back in Kota, preparing for IIT-JEE, until it
was Ravi’s birthday when Tweesha gave him a call. Obviously, Ravi never
expected her call, and seeing her number on his phone screen made him
overjoyed. He was happy and excited to get her call and wondered at the same
time, why was he feeling like this. As in, he knew he loved someone crazily,
and still such weird emotions were taking birth in his heart. He didn't
understand a single thing going on. Or maybe, he didn't want to. It was too
early to say anything. He was going with the flow and taking it as it was
coming to him. It was a regular birthday wish that Tweesha made with all her
heart and was trying to get into all the notorious details of how his day went
by. (She knew boys are always up to something nasty and so she was making the
most of this opportunity). It was a short, simple, and a very clean
conversation.

After like another month, Ravi
came to Varanasi. This time he came for three months, to appear for his boards
and the competitive exams. Tweesha was the first one whom he called and gave
this news. Tweesha too was very happy hearing all of it and was more than ready
to help him out in of the stuff he needed (he being new to the town). As it was
January, she too was occupied with her studies and the stress of boards was no
less. Gradually, having a word with each other in the evening, had now become
like a daily affair for both of them. From being strangers, they now were real
good friends.

As Ravi was staying with his roommate (to whom he barely talked),
the only source of entertainment or the only source to refresh his mind was to
hear all the peppy talks of Tweesha. It lightened up his mood and brightened up
his day. He was addicted.. to her voice.. to her calls.. to her.. It was the only time of the day when he
smiled or the only time of the day for which he waited anxiously. Though he
wasn’t much of a talker, yet shared most of the mysteries that he had in his
life, his anxieties, his family, his world. It was her and only her to whom he
had opened up this much (yeah, none of it he shared with Komal). And this
comfort level was mutual. Both of them were discovering each other. Discovering
their friendship.

Staying in a flat, eating mess’s
food each day made Tweesha feel real bad for Ravi. She stayed with her family,
enjoyed the best of cuisines that her mother prepared. Moreover, birthday
parties, anniversaries, family dinners never made Tweesha cross the fact about
the ones who don’t get this kind of stuff every now and then and how lucky she
was. And one fine day, she decided to prepare a dish for Ravi and give it to
him at his flat. She prepared chilly
paneer. And it turned out to be the best chilly paneer that she had ever
prepared (she was pretty famous in her clan for her chilly paneer). Very
carefully packed, she gave it to him. After having one single bite, he started
praising Tweesha. It was the best chilly paneer even Ravi had ever had till date. He was totally floored by this gesture of hers. Tweesha knew how
genuine Ravi was, thought it’s his habit to make others feel special and so he
was endlessly making her feel good. It was contentment for Tweesha to see that
smile on Ravi’s face. All her efforts were worth it. Later, in the evening,
Ravi called. He expressed how blessed he felt that day. No one ever was that thoughtful
for him and no one ever did that for him. He was overwhelmed with this gesture
of Tweesha and had high respect for the girl. With passing months, they got
more acquainted with each other.

Every evening, Tweesha filled him with
motivation to study and excel in his exams and became his guru (its kinda big deal when parents send their kids to study
further in some strange town and the expectations they have from their children
then. The gravity of which Tweesha made him realize. His parent’s dreams, his
dreams, just everything).

Ravi had a hard luck with Komal, when he proposed her and she made it clear to him that she thought of him as a
good friend and nothing beyond that. She never gave any signals to him as she
didn’t wanna lose a friend like him. Tweesha too was on the other hand, had a
guy in her life earlier who liked her very much and proposed her long ago. But
she payed no heed to his liking. A little later, when she felt a little
closeness for this guy, he found someone else. Hard luck for her as well. Both
Ravi and Tweesha, were keen on staying friends with each other and discussed
all of it way before. With time, exams were over. The results were not what he
expected and this led to great frustration in him.

He decided to give it another shot,
but more sincerely this time, without any distractions, and so he decided to
give away his cell phone so that there’s not a single reason left to blame for
the poor results. When his parents reached their native place after settling
their son in Kota and started to unpack their stuff, Ravi’s mother found his
phone in her purse. She was a little shocked and bemused at the same time as to
how come it’s in her purse!! Since he was staying all alone with no roommates,
his mother called his friends whose contacts she had with her. When Ravi was on
phone, she enquired about what it was all about. Tears started rolling out of
her eyes when she found out the reason. She was proud of him. It was a mixed
feeling. It was happiness to see what a great job she has done with her son in
raising him and a little paranoid as to how he will manage in a strange city
without phone. She decided she’ll send it back to him. In the meantime, in the
absence of phone, Ravi called Tweesha only on a particular time from his
friend’s number or vice versa. It was his friends who started pulling his leg
and appreciated the chemistry that they both shared. The moment Tweesha called,
Ravi was coincidentally with his friends that time! That’s how love is, I
guess.

Due to time crunch, they
exchanged their thoughts and whereabouts via emails and sometimes phone.
Tweesha was getting every single clue from Ravi that he had fallen for her. And
so did her. Yet, when she tried to confront, Ravi changed the topic. He feared
losing her. He didn’t want to repeat his mistake and this time he couldn’t
afford to lose her. He wanted her to be by side. No matter what. One thing
about Tweesha was, she never believed in making the first move. As shown in
Bollywood films, it’s always the guy’s thing to propose or do such stuff. While
on the other hand, Tweesha was done playing the friend’s role. She couldn’t do
it anymore. It was getting hard for her to play dual role. She knew it was a
huge risk. Yet, she wasn’t afraid of the consequences. Or rather, she never
thought of any consequences. She somehow had faith in her love. True love. Deep
in her heart, she knew how deeply Ravi thought of her.

It was August 2007, when it was
raining in Varanasi. She was there on her terrace, soaking herself with drops
of rain, which slowed down a little. It was drizzling then. Suddenly, she gets
a call from Ravi. It was the only thing that she wanted to do then. Talk to
Ravi. ;)

Ravi- “Hey! What’s up?”

Tweesha- “ Hey.. Hii.. I was just
thinking to call you. It’s raining here and m playing with the rains. What’s up
with you?”

Silence for full two minutes.
It’s only the sound of the wind that Tweesha could hear. Nothing else.

Tweesha- “You there? Did you hear
what I said. Say Yes.. say No.. say something at least” M blank at this moment. What is it that he’s gonna say? Why is he so
quiet? Will we still be friends? Or will we stop talking to each other? Will
this proposal ruin our treasured friendship? Oh God!! What did I just do! M so
mad at me right now!!

Ravi-“Say it again.. ”

Tweesha- “What?!”

Ravi- “what you just said.. Say
it again. And keep saying it.. Please..”

Tweesha- “I Love You. Say
something Ravi. M nervous”

Ravi-“I love you too. I love you
so much. You have no idea what you’ve just said and done to me.”

Tweesha- “No, you have no idea
what you’ve done to me! M so glad.”

Ravi- “I love you Tweesha. And
will always do”

It was a bold step for Tweesha,
which showed she was strong and confident.

It was from the time when he
first met Tweesha at the Archies. The eye contact that they made.. it said
something.. that look on her face, the purity in those eyes, the handshake.. Ravi
kept thinking about Tweesha for a week.. and then ignored given his state of
heart it was then.

It was pure love for both of them. The
understanding that they had, the selflessness for each other, the
passion to have each other, running miles just to see each other for mere 2
minutes, the trust, the respect for each other, the faith in each other helped
them cross all the boundaries of the world and be together.. Forever..
It was a lifetime of love.. for eternity.

It’s hard these days to find true
love these days and m glad I just came across one and made my readers read a
beautiful story.